XR Stories supporting local businesses with internship funding

XR Stories has placed the first interns as part of a funding call which opened earlier this year. York Mediale, an international media arts organisation, were one of the first successful businesses to apply to the scheme which saw them receive 100% of the cost of funding two internships.

The Mediale team had a clear vision for how interns could add value and expertise to their business. They wanted interns to particularly focus on key areas of the Mediale festival which is running from October 2020. The two roles they received funding for were a content production role and a social media role. XR Stories supported Mediale throughout the internship process and advertised both opportunities, attracting a number of high calibre applicants. 

The interns appointed are both recent graduates from the University of York with the skills and experience to hit the ground running with the Mediale team.

Tom Higham, Creative Director of York Mediale, is delighted with the progress of the interns, particularly given the challenging circumstances they are currently working in. 

Tom said: “They’re really way, way beyond our expectations. To be able to do what they’re doing at their age is truly remarkable.”

The content production intern conducted a site visit, helped set up filming and participated in the making of “People We Love”, a digital art project, all in the first couple of weeks of her internship. She’s now working on “Human Nature”, a new media art exhibition. 

The social media intern is responsible for developing an enduring social media strategy for the business and has played a key role in generating and running social campaigns across different platforms. At the same time, she is developing a social media strategy focussing on the XR market to support the business in the longer term.

York Mediale are very keen to support new talent coming into the city and develop them for the future, not just for their business, but for the industry overall. Providing internship places for talented candidates was a natural step for them to take on this journey.

If you’d like to find out more about internship places please visit our Internships webpage. 

Applications for this funding call are open until the end of December 2020.

Published on 14 October 2020